Graham's Number

While reading on Big Think I ran across an article describing Graham's Number which I thought was interesting.  This is the (at the time) largest number used in an actual calculation and is "stupid big" according to mathematicians.  Here's the video:

 

 

 

 

Craig's Third Recipe - Chili

I finally got around to writing down how I make chili. It's 100% our recipe and it's what we really enjoy just about any day. Probably makes about a gallon, maybe more, of chili. It's in the Recipes Section and also linked below for your convenience. Hope you like it…

Craig's Chili Recipe (53KB)

Our Third 10K Race

We just finished our third 10K race this morning in Utah. I was worried the altitude (~4500ft) and dryness of the air would be a concern but it turned out not to be.

I ran a good time: 54:04 and Min-Ah ran a really good time: 56:16. The flatness of the course had to help us out as the Burke Lake 10K in Virginia was hilly. Glad that's over but we need to sign up for another 10K to keep us motivated.

Is Marriage about Love?

The controversy about same-sex marriage churns principally around the definition of marriage.  Activists deny the traditional view that marriage is about children.  instead, marriage is an ever-changing, socially-constructed institution constantly being redefined by society.  There is no essential connection with children.  Rather, at the core of the enterprise are two people in love.

Understandably, love is a predominant theme in discussions about marriage.  “As long as people love each other,” one person asserted, “it shouldn’t matter whether they are the same sex. What’s important in marriage is love.”
Initially, this seems hard to deny.  In our culture, love is often the immediate motivation for marriage.  On reflection, though, it’s clear that love and marriage don’t always go together.  In fact, they seldom do.

If marriage were about love, then billions of people in the history of the world who thought they were married were not.  Most marriages have been arranged.  Love may percolate later, but only as a result of marriage, not the reason for it.

Further, if love were the sine qua non of marriage, no “for better or for worse” promises would be needed at the altar.  Vows aren’t meant to sustain love; they are meant to sustain the union when love wanes. A pledge keeps a family intact not for love, but for the sake of children.

The state doesn’t care if the bride and groom love each other.  There are no questions about a couple’s affections when granting a license.  No proof of passion is required.  Why?  Because marriage isn’t about love.  Ask any married person.  It’s about a commitment that is supposed to deliver stability for families.  That’s what society is really interested in because that’s what ensures the continuation of a society.

Since, love may be the reason some people get married, but it isn’t the reason for marriage. It may be a constituent of marriage, but it isn’t the purpose of marriage.  Something else is.

Koukl, G. (2013, April 9). Is Marriage About Love? Stand to Reason. Retrieved February 8, 2014, from http://www.str.org/quickthoughts/is-marriage-about-love#.UvaVN15n_J8

Seattle Seahawks, Superbowl XLVIII Champs After 38 Years Trying

I great up watching the Seattle Seahawks struggle in the 1970’s…lots of trick plays and not much else. Good thing they had a great kicker and Steve Largent. Happy to see Seattle finally win one, they really deserve it and I’m happy for them.

Great Billy Graham Story

I was reading some of the Billy Graham’s writings and came across this funny story I think is very insightful:

The great Swiss theologian, Dr. Karl Barth, was probably in his generation the greatest theologian in the world, and a great philosopher as well. I did not always agree with him, but he was my friend and I respected him. While he was in this country, a student at one of the seminaries said, “Dr. Barth, what is the greatest truth that ever crossed your mind?” All the seminary students were sitting on the edge of their seats to hear some great, profound, deep, complicated answer. Dr. Barth slowly raised his great shaggy gray head and looked at the student and said, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” Billy Graham

Ten Great Quotes

Ran into a few quotes I liked so I thought I’d post them here:

1. "What does not destroy me, makes me stronger." Friedrich Nietzsche
2. "Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance." Samuel Johnson
3. "Sweet are the uses of adversity." William Shakespear
4. "When it’s darkest, men see the stars." Ralph Waldo Emerson
5. "Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom." General George S. Patton
6. "When the well’s dry, we know the worth of water." Benjamin Franklin
7. "A certain amount of opposition is a great help to a man. Kites rise against, not with the wind." John Neal
8. "Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm." Unknown
9. "He knows not his own strength that hath not met adversity." Ben Jonson
10. "Life is not always a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes playing a poor hand well." Jack London

Source: Peterson, J. (2013, September 7). 10 Quotes all Entrepreneurs Should Memorize. Retrieved September 7, 2013, from LinkedIn.

Tira's First Swim

The other day we took Tira to Bear Lake in northern Utah. This is her first time swimming and she loved it. It’s finny how her bottom was floating around before she started dog paddling.

Download video: MP4 format | WebM format

Tira the Hunter

Tira caught two birds simultaneously the other day and last night she ran into a big bush and came out with a bird in her mouth. I made her drop it and it seemed fine. Amazing how easy it is for her to catch birds. Here's the new tally:

Birds	Bugs	Gophers	Lizards	Frogs	Moles	Squirrels	Skunks
16	Lots	3	1	Lots	2	8	1

Got my PMP License

After months of studying I finally took and passed my PMP exam and I’m an official PMP!

New Photo Galleries

I finally replaced my server-side ZenPhoto photo galleries with something easier for me. I now use jAlbum for the galleries which should allow me to not have so many issues. Let me know what you think. Enjoy.

Second 10K

I ran my second 10K at Burke Lake, VA in 52:15.

Not quite a personal best but I'm really happy with that time since I've been swamped with house work like painting and climbing around on ladders.

Run-Time Calculator

I finally got around to cleaning up and posting my Run Time Calculator. This is what I use to track my progress as I prepare for a race. It uses no macros, only formulae and a couple lookup tables. It's in the zip file and includes sample data, a blank copy, and instructions. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks and enjoy.

RTC.zip (594KB)

Thoughtful Response to Sandy Hook

The shooting at Sandy Hook has horrific; thank God for people like Penn Jillette who went on Wendy Williams' talk show to keep them straight and Ben Swann who provided a counterpoint for Piers Morgan's non-facts-based rant. Hopefully politicians will try to fix the root of the problem and not restrict the Second Amendment to the US Constitution. Just listen to how ignorant people are…what makes them think they should talk against guns? They use emotions rather than logic to make their cases...

Christmas 1914

British soldiers were spending Christmas Eve 1914 on a French battlefield during World War I. After four months of fighting, over a million men had perished in the bloody conflict. The bodies of dead soldiers were scattered between the trenches of the opposing armies.

It was in the middle of a freezing battlefield in France, that a miracle occurred! British troops watched in amazement as candle-lit trees appeared above the German trenches.
“From the German parapet, a rich baritone voice had begun to sing a song I remember my German nurse singing to me ... the grave and tender voice rose out of the frozen mist. It was all so strange ... like being in another world,” a young British soldier wrote in his diary.

“Silent Night, Holy Night. All is calm. All is bright.”

When the German soldiers finished singing, the British decided to retaliate. Rather than retaliate with the roar of a cannon, the army chaps from England sang,
“The first noel, the angels did say, was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay ...”

When the boys from jolly old England finished, “Born is the King of Israel!”, the enemy began clapping and struck up a rousing rendition of “Oh Tannebaum!”

When the British troops began singing, “Oh Come All Ye Faithful!”, it was at that moment that the Germans immediately joined in. They were singing with the enemy.

This was a most extraordinary event taking place in the middle of a blood-drenched battlefield! Two opposing nations were singing the same Christmas Carol in the middle of a fierce war. It is recorded that enemy soldiers greeted each other in the no man’s land that just minutes before had been a killing zone. Soldiers wished one another a Merry Christmas and agreed not to fire their rifles on Christmas Day.

Thousands of soldiers celebrated the birth of the Prince of Peace among the bodies of their dead.

A solitary voice began to sing “Silent Night” in French ... he was joined by another voice singing in German ... and finally the words were in English.

Who do you need to make peace with this season? Have you been engaged in a fierce battle that has extracted the very life from your soul? Christmas is a moment in history when peace is abundantly possible because of the Baby who came to bring peace for all of the ages.

Tira Won!

A few months ago I submitted one of our favorite pictures of to NovaDog Magazine and we were informed she won first place. The photo's below but here's a link to the magazine.

Squirrel!

That squirrel feeder I made a few months ago has attracted a lot of squirrels who've eaten a lot of peanuts. Recently we filled it with some raw peanuts and the squirrels kept taking them and eating them. But they weren't eating them all...Min-Ah and I found a sprout growing out of a peanut in the front yard. Since then we knew what a peanut plant looked like, we found about six or seven more little peanuts growing all over the yard. In the front, the back, the side, everywhere. It seems those squirrels were squirreling away (ironic, eh) all those peanuts. Last week the first peanut plant had a huge hole dug next to it and the adjacent flowerbed was all dug up too. Probably the squirrel looking for his peanut...but it wasn't a peanut, it was a plant, so the squirrel was baffled.

We've been plucking the plants out of the yard and planting them in the garden but they die shortly after we stick 'em in the dirt. We still have two growing strong: one in the flowerbed in the front and the other in the mulch around our persimmon tree on the far side of the yard. We're keeping our fingers crossed we get a peanut plant which would be pretty cool. Who knew squirrels are farmers.

Sneaky Tira

Whenever Tira saw something she wanted to catch she'd chase it as fast as she could go. Usually she wouldn't even get close. Recently she started stopping to watch the "victim" then slowly walk towards it. When it would look at her, she'd stop and wait motionless. Once it looked away she'd start sneaking. She's gotten close to bunnies, squirrels, and birds using this technique.

First 10K

On 28 May 2012 Min-Ah and I ran in our first 10K race at Burke Lake, VA. We had been training for a few months prior and race day was 42F which was probably 15 degrees lower than it was the day before. Anyways, Min-Ah set her personal best and I met my goal. Might try to run a couple 10Ks each year but we'll have to see about that...

I ran the 10K in 54:57 which I’m very happy with.

Craig's Second Recipe - Bean Dip

I've been making my own black bean dip for a few years and finally got around to writing it down. I think it's much tastier than store-bought bean dips, less salty, spicier, and much healthier. It's in the Recipes section and linked below for convenience. Let me know what you think.

Craig's Black Bean Dip Recipe (49KB)